GOLDEN VALLEY, MN (June 5, 2020) – Kenneth E. Wicklund, former missionary to DR Congo and Japan, died Wednesday, May 20. He was 96.
Born February 10, 1924, to Iver and Ruth (Newquist) Wicklund in Junction City, Wisconsin, he attended the Rockford School of Business, Asbury College, University of New Mexico, University of Minnesota, and St. Paul Bible College.
In 1954, Kenn answered an ad in the Covenant Companion for a position at LECO, the Protestant publication and distribution center in Kinshasa, DR Congo. The following spring, he arrived in Congo as a Covenant missionary on loan to LECO, where he worked on the presses preparing negatives, doing layout, and making offset plates, as well as training others in offset printing. He left in 1958 during civil unrest and returned to Kinshasa in 1962. During this time, Kenn met Adina Goertzen, who was teaching at the American School through the Mennonite Brethren mission program. They were married in 1965, and Adina was commissioned as a Covenant missionary.
The Wicklunds continued to serve in Congo until 1971, and then served in Japan from 1973 to 1975 with the Japan Sunday School Union in Tokyo. Kenn printed Sunday-school materials and Adina taught kindergarten.
In later years the Wicklunds bought a farm in Harris, Minnesota, and enjoyed spending time on their pontoon on Big Horseshoe Lake. They moved to Covenant Village of Golden Valley, Minnesota, in 2006.
Adina preceded Kenn in death in September 2016. He is survived by his son, Nathan Wicklund of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and daughter, Lisa Stubbs (Lynel) of Spring Lake Park, Minnesota.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced. Interment will be at Covenant Cemetery at Harris, Minnesota.
